Health Care
Commentary
Brezhnev Lives!
Ah, California. Sunshine. The seashore. Beautiful women. Recreation galore. America’s breadbasket. The crossroads of the world, with myriad cultures and cuisines. Unparalleled resources and the great outdoors. And the land of the free lunch, delivered by the beneficent political class in Sacramento, the generosity of which knows no bounds as ...
Commentary
‘Extending the Life of Medicare’? Good Luck with That
White House adviser David Axelrod told ABC News that the president wants to focus on “extending the life of Medicare” through cutting payments to providers. Good luck with that. As I’ve written before in NRO’s Critical Condition, and described in excruciating detail in a recently published study, elderly Americans are ...
Commentary
Cost Containment That Relies on Less Government Power, Not More
On January 20, New York Times quoted President Obama, trying to rescue his health bill, stressing the need for some kind of cost containment because if we dont, then our budgets are going to blow up
Ironically, if the President had read an adjourning article in the same newspaper he ...
Commentary
Orszag’s ‘pillars’ unsteady as health care foundation
Over the past several months, White House budget director Peter Orszag has emphasized that rising federal health care costs threaten to cripple our nation financially. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed in May, Mr. Orszag wrote that the effects of every other fiscal policy variable on federal deficits would be ...
Commentary
Obamacare: Time to Start Over
Instead, Democratic leaders are talking about scaling back their current bills and trying to pick off a few isolated Republicans without ever having invited the GOP to the table in any meaningful way. This might have worked a few months ago, but things have changed. On the CBS Early Show, ...
Commentary
What Health Reformers Could Learn from the Market for Cosmetic Surgery
The article describes Board-certified surgeons populating a website, onto which prospective patients upload photos of body parts which they believe would benefit from surgery. Surgeons nationwide reply with explanations of procedures and price estimates. If patients then decide to proceed, they travel to the surgeons office for a consultation and, ...
Commentary
Forget the ‘Cornhusker Kickback’: Senate Medicaid Deal a Recipe for Fraud
The Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) is the federal financing formula that encourages each state to spend its own taxpayers money irresponsibly in order to maximize its take from other states. For example, Californias FMAP was traditionally the 50 percent minimum: For every dollar California spent, the U.S. Treasury would ...
Health Care
The Rich Get Richer: The Senate’s Medicaid Proposal Gives a Bigger Bailout to Wealthier States
Imagine that you were inspecting a swimming pool that was cracked and leaking water, such that anyone who dove into it would be at risk of cracking his head on the bottom. You would likely make it a priority to fix the pool. However, if the pool were on a ...
Commentary
Government binges on anti-obesity campaigns
San Francisco Examiner, January 21, 2010 Many Americans have made a resolution to lose weight in the new year. Thats admirable. Whats not so admirable is the recent barrage of efforts advanced by government officials to help them slim down by taxing or even outlawing foods deemed unhealthy. San Francisco ...
Commentary
Danger Ahead
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: We are not out of the woods. It is wholly possible, and perhaps even likely, that the Dems will now turn to a limited version of health-care legislation designed and labeled as “insurance reform” that is, sharp limitations on underwriting ...
Brezhnev Lives!
Ah, California. Sunshine. The seashore. Beautiful women. Recreation galore. America’s breadbasket. The crossroads of the world, with myriad cultures and cuisines. Unparalleled resources and the great outdoors. And the land of the free lunch, delivered by the beneficent political class in Sacramento, the generosity of which knows no bounds as ...
‘Extending the Life of Medicare’? Good Luck with That
White House adviser David Axelrod told ABC News that the president wants to focus on “extending the life of Medicare” through cutting payments to providers. Good luck with that. As I’ve written before in NRO’s Critical Condition, and described in excruciating detail in a recently published study, elderly Americans are ...
Cost Containment That Relies on Less Government Power, Not More
On January 20, New York Times quoted President Obama, trying to rescue his health bill, stressing the need for some kind of cost containment because if we dont, then our budgets are going to blow up
Ironically, if the President had read an adjourning article in the same newspaper he ...
Orszag’s ‘pillars’ unsteady as health care foundation
Over the past several months, White House budget director Peter Orszag has emphasized that rising federal health care costs threaten to cripple our nation financially. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed in May, Mr. Orszag wrote that the effects of every other fiscal policy variable on federal deficits would be ...
Obamacare: Time to Start Over
Instead, Democratic leaders are talking about scaling back their current bills and trying to pick off a few isolated Republicans without ever having invited the GOP to the table in any meaningful way. This might have worked a few months ago, but things have changed. On the CBS Early Show, ...
What Health Reformers Could Learn from the Market for Cosmetic Surgery
The article describes Board-certified surgeons populating a website, onto which prospective patients upload photos of body parts which they believe would benefit from surgery. Surgeons nationwide reply with explanations of procedures and price estimates. If patients then decide to proceed, they travel to the surgeons office for a consultation and, ...
Forget the ‘Cornhusker Kickback’: Senate Medicaid Deal a Recipe for Fraud
The Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) is the federal financing formula that encourages each state to spend its own taxpayers money irresponsibly in order to maximize its take from other states. For example, Californias FMAP was traditionally the 50 percent minimum: For every dollar California spent, the U.S. Treasury would ...
The Rich Get Richer: The Senate’s Medicaid Proposal Gives a Bigger Bailout to Wealthier States
Imagine that you were inspecting a swimming pool that was cracked and leaking water, such that anyone who dove into it would be at risk of cracking his head on the bottom. You would likely make it a priority to fix the pool. However, if the pool were on a ...
Government binges on anti-obesity campaigns
San Francisco Examiner, January 21, 2010 Many Americans have made a resolution to lose weight in the new year. Thats admirable. Whats not so admirable is the recent barrage of efforts advanced by government officials to help them slim down by taxing or even outlawing foods deemed unhealthy. San Francisco ...
Danger Ahead
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: We are not out of the woods. It is wholly possible, and perhaps even likely, that the Dems will now turn to a limited version of health-care legislation designed and labeled as “insurance reform” that is, sharp limitations on underwriting ...
